Ferdinand Bilstein (company)
| Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1844 |
| Seat | Ennepetal , Germany |
| management |
|
| Number of employees | approx. 2,100 (2018 in the group of companies) |
| sales | EUR 527 million (2016) |
| Branch | Wholesale of commercial vehicle and motor vehicle parts as well as workshop supplies |
| Website | www.bilsteingroup.com |
The Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG , based in Ennepetal is a family-owned manufacturer and supplier of auto parts. The company combines the product brands f ebi , SWAG and Blue Print under the umbrella brand bilstein group® .
Organization and business areas
Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG manages all domestic and foreign branches and production facilities (currently 21 international subsidiaries). The business field is the automotive aftermarket, which the company currently supplies with more than 60,000 different spare parts for cars and commercial vehicles. As a separate branch of business, the bilstein group Engineering, the precision technology of Ferdinand Bilstein, produces not only products for the automotive aftermarket but also components for various branches of industry, including drive and transmission technology. The service areas cover almost the entire production chain: from material procurement and analysis to toolmaking, machining and hardening to computer-aided quality documentation. In series production, annual quantities between 500 and 200,000 per item are produced.
history
The company was founded in 1844 by Ferdinand Daniel Bilstein under the name "Ferdinand Bilstein". Initially, special tools and equipment for the iron industry were produced. From 1882 turned screws, nuts and façon pieces were also manufactured. With the production of the patented "febi spring bolt", which was presented for the first time at the automobile fair in Berlin in 1921, the company succeeded in entering the independent spare parts market and providing original equipment for the automotive industry. From 1937 Ferdinand Bilstein developed and distributed the first repair kits for kingpin. In the 1950s, the expansion of the production facilities for car and commercial vehicle parts was intensified. In addition to spring bolt sets, wheel and axle bolts were also manufactured at the Ennepetal site.
In 1956, the independent subsidiary Bilstein & Siekermann GmbH & Co. KG was founded by Ferdinand Hermann Bilstein and Arnold Siekermann in the Eifel. In the same year, the construction of the first production hall began, for which machines were outsourced from Ennepetal. They were mainly used to manufacture screw plugs and nuts for well-known automobile manufacturers. The owner families Bilstein & Siekermann decide in 2003 to sell their shares in Bilstein & Siekermann to Indus Holding .
Due to the constant expansion of the merchandise, the company increasingly focused on the aftermarket . Rolf Bilstein intensified the trading business after he took over the management in 1971. Together with Dieter Siekermann, he continuously expanded the product range. In the following three decades the company grew steadily and the sales figures rose from 5 million D-Marks (1971) to Rolf Bilstein's retirement (2007) to 250 million euros. His successor was Karsten Schüßler-Bilstein, who has been assisted by Dieter Siekermann's son Jan Siekermann since 2010.
With the acquisition of SWAG Autoteile GmbH in 2000, the company was able to establish an equivalent alternative to the well-known febi brand. In 2011 the British company ADL (Automotive Distributors Ltd.) was taken over with the Blue Print brand. At the start of Automechanika 2012, Ferdinand Bilstein implemented the bilstein Group umbrella brand, under which the three product brands febi, SWAG and Blue Print stand side by side.
In summer 2017, Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG, the clutch manufacturer based in Durmersheim in Baden-Württemberg, took over 100 percent of KM Autotechnik Kary + Mangler . Its clutch competence "will be consolidated under the product brands febi (for commercial vehicles) and Blue Print (for passenger vehicles)".
Individual evidence
- ^ Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH + Co. KG: number of employees. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
- ↑ WAZ.de. Retrieved August 21, 2018 .
- ↑ bilsteingroup.com: Profile, locations. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
- ↑ bilsteingroup.com: Profile, History. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
- ^ Engineering.bilsteingroup.com: Homepage. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
- ↑ bilsteingroup.com: Profile. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
- ↑ SWAG Germany | Home. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
- ↑ krafthand.de: KM as the fourth product brand of the Bilstein Group (June 26, 2017)
- ↑ Aftermarket update: brand consolidation at bilstein group. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .